Reading Room for the

Visually Impaired

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday: 9.30am - 5.30pm

Saturday: - Closed

Contacts
Tel:  21 7982053
Fax: 21 7982138
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♦ Bicentennial Anniversary of Louis Braille

Reading for the Visually Impaired

The reading service for the Visually Impaired has held and produced works in Braille and audio books since 1969. The service uses the paper, magnetic tape and digital formats. It has more than 7,000 items in Braille, including 4,000 musical works, and 1,575 audio titles.

Access
These services are available to any visually impaired citizen, regardless of age. The only requirement is to register in person, by telephone, post or e-mail.

Works can be requested in the same way, and items in Braille can be loaned and copies of audio material provided in whatever manner is most convenient for the user. This service is also available under the inter-library lending service.

The Braille-based resources are available for home lending for 30-day periods, which can be renewed if no other reader is waiting for the item in question. The audio resources are provided in the form of copies on cassettes, which the reader or partner library must first send to the BNP.

In the Reading Room for the Visually Impaired, which is located on Level 1, users can consult both language and thematic dictionaries, as well as works on the standardisation of Braille writing (general Braille orthography, mathematics, chemistry) from Portugal and abroad. The Reading Room also holds the country’s only copy of The World Book Encyclopaedia, which consists of 191 volumes in Braille.